Fiscal Fitness

On a journey to improve health and wealth!

About Me

Dido

Former academic turned accountant and financial planner.

My philosophy
Invest wisely and for the long term. Invest in yourself and not just in the market. While sometimes you need to be frugal to save funds to invest, at other times, spending more money in the short term will yield more valuable long-term results. Think about major decisions, THEN make saving for them automatic. Creating good financial habits and systems is key to success. The goal is not to die with the most money, but to live a full, meaningful, and satisfying life!

Goals for 2017
1. Job performance. Technical mastery--I'll be continuing to study for the CFP exam, targeting the November exam cycle (updated: take the exam in 2018). I have six more online classes to complete plus an exam review. Additionally, I want to feel that I have attained full mastery of all systems and software at my new position by the end of Q3 (revised from Q1). I'm making it a goal to complete assignments at least two days before they are due, to give myself time for self-review. I want to try getting in to work half an hour early and leaving work on time, rather than getting in just-on-time and staying an hour or more after everyone else is gone.

2. Take care of myself. Eat healthily (this includes an emphasis on whole foods and preparing my meals in advance), exercise consistently (aim for 10,000 steps a day and at least two strength training sessions a week), sleep enough, and make time to de-stress with a daily meditation session (or two). I also need to find a new primary care physican and work on increasing energy.

3. **This Goal is on hold for 2017--Getting my office organized is enough; the other goals are taking too much of my energy to make this practicable.** Get my house (including my financial house) in order. For 2017 that means hiring out some of this as well as doing some myself. I am targeting a big push for Q2 of the year. I also want to get estate documents in place and get a passport this year.

Debt Tracking
Not steadily downward--I left teaching in late 2009 and was underemployed for over 4 years and unemployed for 7 months of 2014, hence the upticks. I include here both mortgage debt (at $64,400 as of January 2017; 61,900 as of September and loans and credit cards. I plan to pay off the non-mortgage debt by the end of 2019, then increase the mortgage payments to pay that off by 2024 (8 years early). Also, as I get rid of the non-mortgage debt, I'd also like to start building funds in a taxable investment account, with the goal of having enough savings to cover two years of expenses post-retirement.

Year End

This entry is mostly nonfinancial, tho I will note that I decreased debt by $7,630 and added $7,975 to my retirement accounts during the year, so over 15K total to the good.

I've gone ahead and updated my side panel for my 2016 goals--fewer than in previous years, with the hopes that I'll make even more progress on each.

Here are my goals/results for 2015.

Goal Domain/ResultJob Performance: Completed 1 of the CFP classes, gained familiarity with the top 40 clients, improved efficiency, and earned a raise mid-year.

Organization: very little progress at home, made a start at office organization. I did improve my financial organization by moving my non-mortgage debt from credit card balance transfers to loans (first a personal loan and then a HELOC at a better rate, which I used to partially but not totally pay off the personal loan, and partially for some capital improvements). This will be a big area of focus for 2016 now that I have one year at my new job under my belt. Making big improvements here will enable improvements in other areas in future years.

Health: Joined a gym mid-year and have gone 2-3 times a week pretty consistently since; kept my weight fairly steady; and got my chronic bronchitis under control by going on FloVent. But I am suffering from fairly severe fatigue and need to work on improved sleep/decreased fatigue in 2016, as well as keeping up with the gym and decent nutrition.

Social/Recreational: Took 3 short vacations (first since 2011), saw half a dozen plays and about two dozen films, participated moderately actively with my congregation--but did not manage to entertain at all. I'll get organized in 2016 and make having people over a goal in 2017.

Professional development: Went to about two dozen Board meetings and/or networking events, joined a new professional organization, wrote one entry on my professional blog.

All in all, not a bad year, even if I fell short of my ambitions. But better to aim higher and fall short than to aim too low and not perform up to my best.

Not sure what your home status is regarding organizing. If you find it cluttered primarily, I would highly suggest focusing your efforts on decluttering (get rid of excess stuff). That alone will help you feel more organized. And the less you have to organize makes that task even easier.

Creditcardfree, YES, I know I need to declutter first--to me, that is included in what I mean by organizing and is in fact the bulk of what needs to be done. As Barbara Hemphill says, "Clutter is postponed decisions" and I postponed too many while my career change was uncertain and during the period in which I lost my mom and 3 pets.

pjmama, thank you!

Laura/Frugal Texan, Yes, I have read her first book. Her second book, "Spark Joy" comes out on Tuesday.

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